#351 - Air Museum

This morning, we visited the Aerospace Museum of California, located next to McClellan Air Force Base. TLG loved seeing the planes up close, especially the ones that you could climb inside (like the one shown in the photo). They had tons of 'em - most were outside, though, so we were lucky to have good weather to enjoy them all. We got a private tour from a volunteer who showed us all around - fortunately it wasn't a busy day at the museum, so our volunteer even opened a specially reconstructed Coast Guard plane to show it to us. TLG got a little tired of all the descriptions of stuff once he had seen the inside of all the planes, so my wonderful hubby and TLG took off, exploring the other displays indoors and re-visiting all the open planes. It was amazing to see the planes up close and personal, since I've only ever seen commercial planes. This museum is not very old, I believe it opened in 2007, and they could use some more visitors, so if you've never been, give it a try.

#350 - Uh-Oh

On our way to California for Thanksgiving tonight, our family was in our first car accident together. My hubby and I have both been in them before, but never together, and TLG certainly has never been in one. Before I describe any more, let me tell you that we are all OK (my back is a little sore, will probably get checked out soon). Even our Jeep is pretty OK, we'll probably need a new bumper and hitch, but compared to the other guy's car, we are doing much better. Now for my ranting and raving: the guy who hit us, a non-English speaker, had no ID of any sort and was waving around some insurance paperwork but never wrote anything down for us... no name, no insurance info, no license plate, or anything. The CHP officer told us it was a "good thing" we have uninsured motorist insurance. So what, this jerk hit us and we have to pay for it because he's an idiot? Great. That's EXACTLY what I want to do with my disposable income in the next month. Birthday and Christmas to pay for? Too bad, now you have to pay for getting your car fixed and your back looked at. *sigh* I was a tiny bit glad his car was totaled and he was probably getting arrested that night. I hope you all don't think I'm a bad person.

#349 - Preschool

Today, the little guy had his first day in the preschool room at daycare. I dropped him off as usual in the toddler room, where apparently after an hour they had some sort of exciting procession to take TLG and his best friend down to preschool to spend the rest of the day. We talked about preschool all weekend, and how much fun it would be, and so I was pleased to hear that he had a mostly good day. He slept in the new preschool nap area OK, and played with the new toys and in the new playground. In the past, when things at daycare change, he hasn't had the best time with transitions, but I hope this one will be OK.

#348 - Donate What You Can

I've always been a believer in the motto "donate what you can." I am a regular blood donor, and we are always giving stuff to the local MS society when they come by the house. And of course, my work with the Booksforsoldiers.com website keeps me busy too. Well, today I completed the sign-up process to put my name on the National Marrow Donor Program list as a potential donor. I actually tried to sign up once, years ago, when there was a local drive to sign up people at one of the local casinos. They turned me away for my recent back problems. But the website sign-up asked if I'd had any problems in the past two years, and I am proud to say that it's been many years since my last real back problem (maybe I've finally learned to lift with my knees?).

Anyway, for the month of November, the NMDP has received an unrestricted grant to cover the cost of all the donors who sign-up online like I did (this usually costs a little over $50 to the donor!) It was really easy - I just answered some personal contact questions, some health/medical questions, and hit "enter." Then today I received four cotton swabs in the mail to use on the inside of my cheek and mail back for them to "type" me. I may never get a call that I could be a match, but I feel good knowing that I've at least volunteered if there is someone in need. There's still time this month to register for free, so if anybody reading this is in good health, I'd urge you to put your name forward. Just go to http://www.marrow.org/

#347 - Wii Mii

Today, our family bought a Nintendo Wii. We have it all set up downstairs but haven't had much chance to play with it yet... however, we did set up our "Mii" avatars, these are characters that look like us to show on the screen while we're playing. We giggled like crazy - TLG included - as my hubby set his up with crazy eyes, a beard, and dreadlocks. So now we have Mii's for all three of us. That took us so long, that when we were done we only had time to play the first game, which was a lot like the old Nintendo "Duck Hunt" with the point-and-shoot clay shoot. I can hardly wait to try some of the other silly games we got with our controllers... I think we're really going to like this! If you're in the neighborhood, come over and play with us, OK?

#346 - Air Hockey

When my hubby and I were first dating, we played quite a bit of air hockey. I don't know how it happened, but many of the places we went, there were tables, so we always stopped to play. (Maybe this is a sign that we are just kids at heart?) Today, while we were at the movie theater waiting for the movie to begin, I took TLG into the game room and decided we could try to play air hockey, just the two of us. I showed him where the puck came out, and we slowly batted it up and back on the table a few times, until it went into the slot on his side of the table. He thought that was lots of fun, so he picked it up and immediately put it back through. Ummmm, yeah. He knocked it up the table once or twice more, but mostly he just put it through the slot on his table a bunch of times, and then the game was over. It cracked me up that I couldn't explain the game better, but come on - I was way at the other side of the table in a room filled with noise and kids and games and neon. My wonderful hubby came back just in time to see the game ending, so I have a witness for this silly new thing. Next time we'll double-team him and try to explain it a little better!

#345 - TLG's First Movie

Today, we took TLG to his very first movie theater! As much as he loves movies and TV at home, we were pretty sure he would love it... and we were right! We took him to see Madagascar 2 (he loves the first movie, and as you probably know, the first movie quote he ever learned was from the first Madagascar). He sat quietly throughout the movie, entranced by the new story and his old favorite characters. I brought an empty brown paper bag so we could put some popcorn in a separate bag for him, and he thought that was great. We also brought along a couple of pieces of Halloween candy to share at the movie, too (don't tell!) As for the actual movie, I thought it was not the greatest plot line, but seeing TLG enjoying it so much more than made up for that (in my book). Something tells me we'll be going to see plenty of movies in the future with TLG! A spare thought: Since when do child movie tickets cost upwards of $6?!? Insanity!

Here's one more photo of us with the Madagascar display in the lobby of the theater:

#344 - TLG's Election Day Adventure

I've pretty much voted in every election I've been eligible for, including ones by absentee ballot long ago, and the ones where I was required to mail in my ballot because my precinct was too small to have it's own polling place. But today I was proud to go to our new polling place and I did something I've never done before: I took the little guy to the polling place with me. Now, this doesn't seem like a big deal, maybe, to many parents who take their kids everywhere. But the people at our polling place made it special for him, including letting him have his very own "I Voted" sticker when we were done at the electronic voting machine. I doubt he'll ever remember this small new thing, but when he's grown up he can tell his own children that his mommy took him with her to vote for President Obama.

On a side note, I watched Obama's speech this evening with a great mixture of pride and relief - I do hope that he will keep his word on some of his campaign promises including health care, the war in Iraq, and fixing this economy that's so broken. Yay!

#343 - Scheels Ferris Wheel

This afternoon, our little family visited the new Scheels sporting goods store and rode the indoor ferris wheel. The line for the ride moved very slowly so we were very excited when it was finally our turn. This ferris wheel goes up at least three stories in the air, and being inside you can definitely get some perspective on how far up you are - my hubby got a little queasy at the top, and I'll admit when TLG started moving a tiny bit in his seat, I asked him to stop because he was making me nervous! TLG and I played a rousing game of "I Spy" while we were stopped, trying to pass the time and not let on that I was feeling nervous. (We actually play I Spy all the time, at least twice a day and often in the car, so TLG is good at it.) You could see downtown Reno out the window from the top of the wheel! All too quickly, our ride was over. Then we explored the store a little, particularly the coffee shop (hubby), escalators and pet section (TLG and me). Honestly, TLG loved the escalators (we rode up and down about 4 times each) and we would have saved a little time and money if we had skipped the ferris wheel and just rode the escalators up and down! Ha! The store also has two huge aquariums full of beautiful fish, which we looked at for a minute or two. Scheels is quite a distance from our side of town, so unless we're desperate, I don't see us journeying back there any time soon, but it was a nice new place to visit today.